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Alchemy (Skyrim)

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SkillAlchemy
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"Hey, you mix potions right? Can you brew me an ale?"
Guard[src]

Alchemy is a skill in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and is one of the six skills that falls under The Thief play-style. Alchemy is the art of combining raw ingredients with matching effects to produce potions and poison. It is one of the three crafting skills in Skyrim falling under The Thief with parallels to Smithing for The Warrior and Enchanting for The Mage. As such is affected by The Thief Stone and, as with all skills, is affected by The Lover Stone.

Contents

Mechanics

Racial bonuses

Bosmeri, Breton, Khajiit, and Dunmeri gain a +5 boost to Alchemy at the start of the game.

Ingredients

For a list of ingredients and their uses, see Ingredients (Skyrim).
Nirnroot
Nirnroot is an ingredient with many uses.
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Ingredients are used to construct potions. Each ingredient in Skyrim has four possible effects that are unknown until they are discovered by the Dragonborn during play. Effects can be revealed by brewing a potion with two or more ingredients that share an effect. The first effect is also revealed by 'eating' the ingredient, which immediately causes the effect on the player after consumption. With perks, all four effects can be found by eating a single ingredient.

Recipes

For a list of recipes , see Books (Skyrim)/Recipes.

All alchemy merchants sell recipes from time to time and they can also be found as loot. Recipes will list ingredients that share a given effect which helps limit the experimentation required to find the effects of each ingredient.

Alchemy Labs

For a list of locations, see Alchemy Lab.
Alchemy Table
Alchemy Table concept art

Brewing potions requires an Alchemy Lab which can be found in various locations throughout Skyrim such as alchemy supply shops, private studies, occasionally inns, court wizard's quarters, and can be purchased for player-owned homes. When interacting with an Alchemy Lab the Dragonborn will see a menu. At the top is 'ingredients' which opens a sub-menu which lists all the ingredients in inventory. Below ingredients will be a list of all known effects on all ingredients in inventory which each open a sub-menu which lists only ingredients that share that effect.

Potions and poisons

Potions (Skyrim) Load Screen
Various potions and poisons.
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For a list of potions and their effects, see Potions (Skyrim).

Potions and poisons are items produced as the result of brewing at an Alchemy Lab. Their effects can fill or increase stats like Magicka or Health, strengthen skills like One-Handed, Smithing, alter the player with Invisibility, or produce strong poisons like Slow, Paralyze or Lingering Damage Magicka. Brewed potions always have a name describing the dominant effect given by the potion. Unlike found potions, which can have alternate names and usually only one effect, brewed potions always have one consistent name, regardless of the number of effects contained. This can lead to some confusion when finding a potion to consume from your inventory. The value of a potion is derived from the number of effects and their magnitude regardless of if the effects are all beneficial or harmful.

Leveling

The following actions raise the alchemy skill:

  • Mixing a potion at an Alchemy Lab. More valuable potions increase Alchemy skill faster.

Books

The following books provide a permanent one-time increase to the player's Alchemy Skill. See each book's page for a list of possible locations.

Quests

The following Miscellaneous Quests increases Alchemy or improve the results of Alchemy. Completing a quest for the Alchemist merchants will also allow you to take the ingredients on display without stealing.

Trainers

Main article: Trainer
Trainer Skill Level Location
Lami Common Morthal
Arcadia Expert Arcadia's Cauldron, Whiterun City
Babette of the Dark Brotherhood Master Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary or later Dawnstar Sanctuary

Perks

The following are the perks that become available to select as the skill is leveled up:

Perk (Ranks) Requirements Description
Alchemist (5) Alchemy 20 / 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 Potions and poisons are 20% / 40% / 60% / 80% / 100% stronger.
Physician Alchemy 20, Alchemist Potions you mix that restore health or stamina are 25% more powerful.
Poisoner Alchemy 30, Physician Poisons you mix are 25% more effective.
Benefactor Alchemy 30, Physician Potions you mix with beneficial effects have an additional 25% greater magnitude.
Experimenter (3) Alchemy 50, Benefactor Eating an ingredient reveals first two effects (+1 effect per additional rank).
Concentrated Poison Alchemy 60, Poisoner Poisons applied to weapons last for twice as many hits.
Green Thumb Alchemy 70, Concentrated Poison Two ingredients are gathered from plants (description is misleading - two ingredients or food items are gathered from any static harvest-able object - be it plant, fungi, hanging fish or meat, egg clusters, etc.) Known exception: Nirnroot (has only 1 root).
Snakeblood Alchemy 80, Concentrated Poison, Experimenter 50% resistance to all poisons.
Purity Alchemy 100, Snakeblood All negative effects are removed from created potions while all positive effects are removed from created poisons.
Alchemy perks tree
Alchemy Perks Tree
Terraviper-5Added by Terraviper-5

Achievements

Artificer (Achievement)
Artificer
Make a smithed item, an enchanted item, and a potion
Points 10 Game points
Trophy
Bronze trophy

Tips

Main article: Alchemy Tips
For Alchemy leveling strategies, see Alchemy Tips#Leveling.
For armor and weapon improvement strategies, see Alchemy Tips#Enchanting.
For tips on making money with alchemy, see Alchemy Tips#Making Money.

See also

Start a Discussion Discussions about Alchemy (Skyrim)

  • Profit?

    18 messages
    • When I was poor, I made money by buying ALL the ingredients from alchemists, because they're super cheap compared to the value of the potions t...
    • I was woundering if anyone could help me out i want the skyrim dlc but im broke, i would like to game sure if possible let me know my psn...
  • Fortify Enchantment

    8 messages
    • the two simpliest ingredients of enchanting are ( BLUE BUTTERFLY WINGS & SNOWBERRIES) the butterflies can be founs at several locations on y...
    • Hello,  Around Whiterun, you will found ton of Blue Butterflies.... Just walk around, in the toundra... It's one of the most common ingredient...
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